Hanoi can prop up old homes or let them fall
HANOI: Restoring dangerously dilapidated French-style houses in Hanoi isn’t a simple task.
Heated discussions are on and concerns expressed on how to preserve French-styled mansions, after one such 110-year-old structure collapsed in central Hanoi, killing two persons and injuring six others.
To repair and preserve these buildings one needs not only a large amount of money but also cooperation of the locals and local authorities said Ngo Doan Duc of the Vietnam Architecture Association.
There are many such mansions located in Hanoi’s Ba Dinh and Hai Ba Trung districts.
“We have to carefully check not only these old mansions but also old houses in the Old Quarter because they are being downgraded at an alarming rate,” Duc said.
Implementing steps to preserve them, however, is not easy because it needs a team who should know the art of restoration well.
“First we have to start a concrete programme while educating locals about restoration and then urge them to join in,” Duc said.
He said preservationists have to make clear each mansion’s age and status so as to have a plan to repair and upgrade it on time.
A state management in-charge should have all the information and be given the responsibility to help locals deal with any problem which arises in the preservation of the mansion, to ensure safety and protect the heritage, he said.
Architect Dao Ngoc Nghiem, deputy chairman of the Association of Hanoi’s Planning and Urban Development, said Vietnam still does not have a concrete policy to encourage people to preserve and restore these mansions compared with European countries such as Sweden and Italy.
Over the past 20 years, Hanoi had only classified ancient mansions but did not have a long-term solution to protect them, Nghiem said.
For example, a mansion can last at least one hundred years. Relevant agencies in charge should check whether it is 98 or 99 years old to have a concrete solution for its preservation.
“We have to do so to ensure safety and preserve its heritage,” he said.
Many mansions in Hanoi have a rich culture and heritage and are owned by individuals, so to protect and preserve them, the state should have a policy to encourage them to join the preservation efforts, Nghiem said.
The collapse of the 110-year-old mansion at Tran Hung Dao Street in Hanoi’s Hoan Kiem District was a result of the lack of such a policy and mechanism, he said.
Governments in Italy and Germany have funded residents who wish to repair and restore their mansions, or they have a policy to buy the mansions and move the residents to other places, and turn these properties into state heritage sites.
Italy has many hundreds of architectural heritage sites, but experts have classified and chosen 40 special ones to inject money for protection and preservation, Nghiem said.
Meanwhile, Vietnam had a long list to be preserved including 1,200 mansions and 900 ancient houses in the Hanoi’s Old Quarter, he said.
“From where should we get the money to deal with them?” Nghiem asked.